On October 31, 2021, the New York State Department of Health extended the designation that COVID-19 as a highly contagious communicable disease, continuing to invoke the NY HERO Act. This current extension ends on December 15, 2021, and the situation will be evaluated at that time to determine if another extension is warranted. Due to this latest extension, New York employers must continue to keep in effect the airborne infectious disease prevention plans that they have adopted related to COVID-19.
COVID-19 was initially designated as a highly contagious communicable disease on September 6, 2021, which required employers to activate their safety plans under the NY HERO Act. The New York State Department of Labor has created model airborne infectious disease exposure prevention plan templates that can be used to meet the law’s requirements. The adoption of a plan is required by the NY HERO Act and must be implemented when a disease is designated as a highly contagious communicable disease. Additional information about the required safety plans can be found here.
In addition, the New York State Department of Labor also recently issued a set of frequently asked questions on the HERO Act. The FAQs primarily re-iterate information from the HERO Act statute as well as the standard and model plans.
PRINTING United Alliance continues to follow all state regulatory issues. For more information, or if you have questions on this or any other state regulatory program, please contact Marci Kinter, mkinter@printing.org; Gary Jones, gjones@printing.org, or Adriane Harrison, aharrison@printing.org.